CHAPTER XVI
The Return from Zeebrugge
The destroyer's work that night was not yet accomplished. While therescued crew of M.-L. 4452 were hospitably entertained and providedwith hot food and drink and dry clothing, she resumed her patrol offthe Belgian coast. With others the destroyer was on the look-out forpossible survivors, amongst them the crew of the cutter for whichFarnborough was searching when entering Zeebrugge Harbour. Itappeared that the M.-L. that had rescued the crew of one of theblock-ships had the cutter in tow. In the latter were five or six menwho for some inexplicable reason were not transferred to the M.-L.'sdeck. They might have thought that remaining on the boat was saferthan crowding on the M.-L.'s already congested deck. At all eventsthe men stopped where they were, the cutter was taken in tow and thedash out of the harbour begun.
Then difficulties arose. The M.-L. was steering badly; the cutter wassheering violently. It was a question whether the towing-craft couldweather the Mole-head. The parting of the towing-hawser settled theproblem. How it parted no one on the M.-L. knew. It might have beenshot through, or slipped by one of the men in the cutter; but, beforethe skipper of the M.-L. realized that it had parted, the cutter waslost astern in the darkness.
Two hours after the rescue of the crew of M.-L. 4452 the cutter wassighted and picked up fifteen miles from land. Her undaunted crew hadalmost miraculously made their way out of the shell-swept harbour andwere resolutely straining at their oars determined, if not picked upby a vessel, to make the shores of England.
Zeebrugge had been effectually "bottled up". No longer could skulkingU-boats descend the Bruges Canal and put to sea on their errand ofruthless and unlawful destruction. A flotilla of Hun torpedo-boats,too, was rendered useless by the closing of the port.
It was the most brilliant naval episode of the war. Accomplishedunder adverse conditions the loss of life, though deplorably heavy,was less than that of a land battle. The results were greater;directly, they practically sealed the fate of the U-boat campaign;indirectly, they made their moral effect fall not only on the WesternFront but all over the vast area affected by the stupendous Battle ofNations. People, who, owing no doubt to the over-secretive policy ofthe Admiralty, were asking: "What is the British Navy doing?" weresilenced. Zeebrugge provided an indisputable answer.
It was hardly to be expected that the old _Vindictive_ and the little_Iris_ and _Daffodil_ would return from the storming of the Mole, andarrangements had been made to take off their crews by means of themotor-launches, should the ships be sunk alongside the stronglyfortified wall.
But they did. Battered, her upperworks riddled like sieves, her decksresembling shambles with their load of dead and wounded, the_Vindictive_, with her White Ensign streaming proudly in the breeze,returned to Dover. One night's work had placed her on the samepedestal as Nelson's Victory. Proposals were submitted that sheshould be preserved as a national relic, and when the question wasraised in the House of Commons the enigmatical reply was made: "Thefuture of the _Vindictive_ is a matter now under consideration".
Successfully the sealing of Zeebrugge was accomplished; but thesimultaneous operations against Ostend, though brilliant in theirconception and heroic in their attempt, failed to achieve the desiredresult.
A sudden change in the direction of the wind, local mists, a darknight, and the alteration in the position of the important StroomBank buoy all contributed to the glorious failure of a gallantattempt. Under a heavy fire, the _Brilliant_, making for the supposedposition of Ostend piers, grounded. The _Sirius_, following slowly inher wake, immediately reversed engines, but, as the ship was alreadybadly damaged by gun-fire and in a sinking she refused to answer toher helm. Before she could gather sternway she collided with the_Brilliant's_ port quarter. In the end, both vessels being hard andfast ashore, they were blown up, nearly a mile and a half to theeastward of where they ought to have been had observations beenpossible.
Here again, in the work of rescuing the crews of the strandedblock-ships, the M.-L.'s played a successful and daring part. M.-L.532, in attempting to run alongside, was badly damaged in collision.M.-L. 276 repeatedly went alongside the _Brilliant_, and inexceptionally difficult circumstances rescued most of the crew.
M.-L. 283, ranging up alongside the _Sirius_, took off practicallyall her crew; then, notwithstanding the fact that her deck wascrowded with men, she took off sixteen of the _Brilliant's_ crew whohad taken to a whaler, which had been sunk by gun-fire.
After the rescuing M.-L.'s had left, it was reported that an officerand some men belonging to the _Sirius_ were missing. That vessel washard and fast aground, and subjected to a furious fire from theGerman batteries. It seemed impossible that anyone could remain aliveon board the shattered hulk. But, since there was a very slightpossibility, there was no hesitation on the part of the skipper ofCoastal Motor-Boat No. 10. Under a heavy and accurate fire from4.1-inch and machine-guns the C.M.-B. made a thorough search for themissing officer and men, but found no sign of life. Subsequently theywere picked up thirteen miles out at sea, whither they had pulled inan open boat after the sinking of their ship.
It was no fault on the part of Commander Godsal that had caused thefailure of the operations. Most men would have been content to reston their laurels, but not so Godsal. Directly he reported to theVice-Admiral at Dover he volunteered to make another attempt uponOstend. His offer was accepted, and, while the nation was clamouringfor the _Vindictive_ to be exhibited as a show-ship, her hold wasalready being filled with cement in order to use her as a block-shipto complete the task that the _Sirius_ and _Brilliant_ had failed toachieve.
It was about a week after the return of the _Vindictive_ to Doverthat Alec Seton and Guy Branscombe were making their way along theesplanade in the direction of the Lord Warden Hotel, when they werehailed by Flight-lieutenant Smith.
"Gorgeous news, you fellows!" exclaimed the R.A.F. pilot, who hadmade a rapid recovery from the effect of his immersion in the icywaters of Zeebrugge Harbour. "I'm told off for the coming Ostendstunt. Got my orders from the Squadron Commander this afternoon."
"Some fellows get all the luck," grunted Branscombe. "'Spose we mustcongratulate you; but for Heaven's sake don't rub it in! We'reproperly hipped. Nobody up-topsides loves us. We're kind of socialpariahs amongst the lucky dogs of the Dover Patrol. In short, we'refed up absolutely."
"I agree," added Seton disconsolately.
"What's upset your respective apple-carts?" asked Smith.
"Every mortal thing," replied Seton. "We both volunteered for workwith the _Vindictive_, and all we got was thanks and fourteen days'leave. There's been a most unholy scramble to take part in thestunt--fellows tumbling over each other, like a west-end bargainsale. One fellow puts forward his claim on the grounds that he was onthe _Sirius_, another the _Brilliant_, a third because he got intoZeebrugge and got out again. The 'Vindictives' naturally want to seethe thing through, and they won't budge--so there you are.Branscombe's M.-L. is _non est_, and they haven't given him a newone. I'm pushed out of the destroyer flotilla 'cause I've beenchipped about a bit. The medical board tell me that I want rest--andit's rest that's driving, me silly. No chance of getting a lift inyour 'bus?"
The pilot shook his head.
"Sorry--nothin' doin'," he replied. "Much as I appreciate what you'vedone for me in the past, you have asked me the impossible. I couldn'tsmuggle you in a 'plane, you know. Well, I must away. I'm just off tothe Air Station."
"By Jove, Seton!" exclaimed Branscombe, as the pair continued theirway; "that fellow Smith has given us the straight tip."
"What do you mean?" asked Alec.
"Said he couldn't smuggle us."
"Well, what of it?"
"Where's your imagination, old son?" continued Branscombe. "What's toprevent us doing the stowaway stunt on board the _Vindictive_?"
Alec fairly gasped.
"Fine old hole we'd be in if we were found out," he objected.
"We mustn't be found out--at least until after the
stunt is over,"replied Branscombe; "then it doesn't matter so much. Either we won'tbe alive to bear the wigging, or else we'll be tails up. In that caseI don't very much care what happens if we've had our whack of thefun."
"'Prejudicial to discipline and good conduct'," quoted Seton.
"So are a good many things," argued Branscombe. "In the Service thereare two ways of getting a job done: the official and thenon-official. It's only when you make a mess of things that you arehauled over the coals. Nothing happened to those fellows who refusedto leave the _Intrepid_ before she went into action. We'd both beable to do a bit with a quick-firer or a machine-gun."
"It's not a bad scheme," admitted Alec. "How do you propose to goabout it?"
"You leave it to me," declared Branscombe "and I'm open to wager amonth's pay that when the _Vindictive_ sails for Ostend, you and Iwill be on board."
"Good enough!" exclaimed Alec.